Aftermath of the Tournament (Revised)
by warelander
Summary: After getting distracted trying to catch a beetle, Sig discovers that the Primp Town Puyo Puyo tournament has come to an end and makes his way to the party celebrating it's closure. A revised version of the first fic I ever posted online


**Yeah, looking back at the original I felt that it needed some reworking, especially the parts with Arle, so there yah go, I am actually rather happy with how it came out.**

''Gotcha!' At long last, after a prolonged pursuit, Sig could finally hold the beetle that he had been after into the air. A look of pride was written all over his face as he slowly lowered his arms, holding the insect in his red hand and gazing at the insect with a big smile, gently petting it with his normal hand.

''There, there...hmm..'' Curious about where exactly his chase for the little vermin brought him, Sig took a look at his surroundings, finding himself in front of a couple bushes in a forest area, which upon further inspection seemed to be relatively near Primp Town's Magic School.

Not entirely sure what to do next the boy found himself silently gazing at the gorgeous late afternoon sky, when all of the sudden he felt like could hear someone rushing towards his direction, turning around he quickly spotted a young man with blond hair, clad in a green jacket, white pants and a red cape coming up to him. It was Prince Salde's loyal butler Otomo.

''Mr. Sig! I finally found you!'' The bug lover watched as Otomo stopped to catch his breath, he seemed to be as stressed as ever. ''You were looking for me?'' ''Why yes, the young prince ordered me to do so, since you vanished from the tournament all of the sudden.''

''The tournament...'' Sig recalled that he was a participant of Primp Town's Puyo Puyo tournament earlier that day, although while doing well, he was eventually bested by a seemingly perverted, sword-wielding dark wizard who called himself 'Schezo Wegey'. Soon after his defeat the boy found himself distracted by the beetle he just caught, not realizing that the pursuit of the gnat would take an extended amount of time, away from everyone else.

Trying to explain himself, the boy merely answered in his usual deadpan fashion. ''Sorry, I kept myself busy...'' ''I can see that.'' Retaining the anxious look in his eyes and not changing his tone one bit, Otomo continued on. ''Anyways, the Primp Magic School is holding a party for all the players and it would make the prince happy if you came, after all.'' Sig nodded his head, not having to think much for an answer. ''Understood, I'll be there as soon as I can.'' ''Oh, thank you! I have to hurry and inform him of this!'' With those words Otomo wasted no time, immediately dashing towards his destination. Sig casually watched the hectic butler leave, he wasn't anywhere near in the same kind of rush as he was, it wasn't in his nature after all. Still, he would have to get going if he didn't want to miss out completely on all the festivities.

As he was walking through the woods, nighttime slowly approached, darkening the area quite a bit. Not that this bothered him in any way, as it gave him the opportunity to keep an eye out for night active bugs. Diverting his attention from the beetle he was still carrying in his hands, to look around the are turned out to be a rather bad idea for the boy though, since it allowed the bug to escape and rush towards a nearby bush.

''Hey, wait!'' Sig searched through the shrubbery, but to no avail, instead he caught the attention of someone completely different.

''Huh? Is somebody there?'' It was a feminine voice, one that was very familiar to him and indeed the person he saw approaching him from the darkness was a girl with orange hair, a white shirt with some light armor on it and a blue skirt, it was his friend, the girl from another world: Arle Nadja, accompanied as always, by her small yellow mammal like companion Carbuncle.

Upon spying him Arle's expression quickly shifted from surprised to distressed, in a way that really caught the half-demon off guard, he had never seen her like this before. ''...! Sig! Where have you been the whole time?!'' Sig wasn't sure how to answer, it seemed that she was worried about him, he couldn't entirely piece together why that was though. ''I got distracted by a bug. Catching it took longer then I thought...''

Arle merely let out a big sigh and placed a few fingers on her forehead, on one hand this answer didn't shock her, she knew him well enough at that point, but at the same time it still frustrated her. ''Sig, really, you have to think more! We were all worried you wouldn't come anymore. I won the tournament and got the medal so I can return to my own world now...you weren't even there when I was announced as the winner... ''

The frustrated and stern expression on her face soon faded, in favor of a disappointed looking frown, that didn't do anything to ease up the pang of guilt that was starting to form itself in Sig's stomach, nor did Arle lowering her head, as if to try not to face him. ''I was afraid that I wouldn't get a chance to say goodbye to you...''

And there it was, the moment in which the young bug lover was struck by the metaphorical sledgehammer. For reasons unknown to him Sig had always had a hard time when it came to displaying strong emotions and he could be benign at times, however none of that had ever stopped him from loving his friends and to see Arle so upset because of him was not something he could just shrug off.

Just feeling bad wouldn't defuse the situation however, he had to express his regret somehow, unfortunately he always felt helpless when it came to comforting others and wasn't the best with words. Taking a few heavy feeling steps towards her Sig reached out to her arm, softly placing his demon hand onto it, kneeling down a bit to meet her eye to eye. It wasn't like her eyes were watering up or anything, but in many cases the mere disappointment in someone's eyes could be a much more heart wrenching expression. It was painful for Sig to see his usually spunky and energetic friend like this, but the whole thing was his fault and he had to at least say something.

''I'm s-sorry... I didn't want to upset you...'' The gentle touch of his hand on her arm sent a warm and comfortable shiver went down Arle's spine, as she stared into his eyes, noting the dull and even sad look within them, one that caused her compassionate instincts to slowly override her frustration. She was still a bit upset, but she didn't want to leave Primp on such a dire note with Sig.

''I know you would never hurt me on purpose...just Promise me to be more thoughtful about that kinda stuff in the future, kay?'' With those words Arle gently moved Sig's hand from her arm, instead holding out her own, holding out her pinky for him to entwine with his own, which Sig wasted no time doing. ''I promise...I really do.''

That was all she wanted to hear, deciding to seal their reconciliation Arle wrapped her hands around Sig, pulling him into a comforting embrace, that formed a small smile on her face, while resting head on his shoulder. Sig on his end was rather surprised, but also thankful for the gesture, returning it in every way and silently enjoying the closeness to his friend.

Indeed both teens found it difficult to break the the hug, the comfort of being held by the other was something that they both needed at the moment, but they had to call it quits at some point, so they did eventually let go, still smiling at the other, having already brushed away their previous talk.

Before he could say anything Sig watched as Arle sat down in the grass, patting the ground next to her, signaling the spacey lad to join her. Accepting her offer he planted himself right next to his friend, as both for a moment watched Carbuncle, who was playfully chasing after a few fireflies, before directing their looks to the night sky, which slowly began to fill up with at least a few stars.

A rather calming sight for sure, thought it was exactly then that something clicked in Sig's head, something else that Arle said. ''So I guess you'll be heading back home, right?'' ''Yep! Can you believe it? I got the medal and now I can finally see my own world again!'' Arle sure was happy, why wouldn't she be? After all she had been trying to find a way to go back home ever since she found herself stranded in Primp, Sig knew it perfectly well, after all they had several Puyo matched for the sole purpose of finding a clue that would help solve her dilemma.

Still there was a bitter note to all of it, only now did Sig realize the consequences of this coming to pass, it's what Arle wanted, he wouldn't try to tell her to rethink anything, but the knot in his stomach told him very clearly that might have been about to lose someone who had grown to become rather dear to him.

''So, this is the last time we will see each other..?'' The boy uttered, still keeping his gaze fixated on the sky, while Arle could only look at Sig in mild confusion, before reminding herself that Sig wasn't around when she received the medal and made her wish. Still, his refusal to look at her after making a comment like that gave right away what he was thinking.

Deciding to surprise him a bit she sneakily wrapped one arm around Sig's shoulders, to get his attention, making him finally face her, as she grinned wildly ''Of course not silly! I told you that I have grown to love this town, didn't I?'' Nodding in affirmation Sig remained silent inquiring her to continue. ''Well when I made my wish to the medal I didn't just wish for a way to return home, but rather for a way to travel between the two worlds.''

Tightening her grip on him a bit Arle felt her face warm up a bit as her head came into contact with Sig's, though it was in a way also very comfortable and soothing, not to mention a nice way to convey her feelings even without words. ''...Sure I'm homesick, but you, Amitie, everyone who made my stay here so much better, I wouldn't just abandon you all for anything in the world...''

It was at that very point that Sig wrapped his own arm around Arle, muttering a quiet ''Thanks'' into her ear, as the two of them just sat like that quietly for a bit, that was until they both thought to have heard a very rapid succession of footsteps to have come their way.

Yup it was Otomo yet again, looking remarkably exhausted and powerless. ''Huff..Mr...Sig..where..why..the prince..Waiting...uuuu...'' Before the butler could even reach the pair he finally gave into his exhaustion and collapsed on the floor, a couple of feet away from them, Arle was rather bumfuzzled by this turn of events, Sig on the other quickly recalled what was going on. ''Oh yeah the party, I forgot about that.'' He plainly stated, earning himself a playful shove from Arle. ''Well, better get going then; I'm gonna be off as well.''

Sig watched as Arle puffed up her medal and got a hold of Carbuncle, seemingly ready to take off, not sure how to properly say farewell he held out his normal hand, letting her place one of her own into it for a handshake. ''So this is goodbye for now, huh?'' ''Don't think of it as a goodbye, think of it as a see you later. Because I will be back.''

Nodding Sig released her hand, as both friends still took a brief moment to see the other off with a confident smile, they would see each other again, all thanks to the wish granted by the medal. And with that Arle held said medal into the air, allowing herself to be engulfed in a bright ray of light, nearly blinding to the eyes, allowing Sig to only barely see as the light and Arle along with it, shoot up into the starry sky, vanishing in a barely visible twinkle.

For a brief moment Sig stood there in silence, it was already weird to think that Arle wouldn't be always around anymore, but she promised that she would be coming back. Sig held onto that promise in his mind, as he gripped the still unconscious Otomo by his arms, heading back on course to the party, still occasionally stealing glances up to the sky.

He knew already that he would be doing a lot of stargazing from now on. Accepting that things would be a bit different going forward, but also anticipating the day where a certain special star would return from the horizon.

The day where he would meet Arle again...

 **END**


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